A SPIRITED second half comeback allowed the Saints to grab a 38-22 win against Warrington, writes Graham Henthorne.
Greg Wilde did put the Saints ahead taking Lewis Charnock’s pass to go in at the corner after Adam Hesketh and Luke Thompson had driven the Saints forward.
But that was about as good as it got as the bigger Wolves forwards got on top.
After surviving two repeat sets the visitors went ahead with a try to the left of the posts and despite Lewis Foster being held up over the line went further ahead as the scrum half pushed through some wafer thin tackling.
Charnock then knocked on with the line at his mercy before yet another Wolves offload this time brought dividends as the impressive loose forward beat the Saints cover to score. He converted his own try to leave the Saints 16 – 4 down.
On the stroke of half time a penalty allowed the Saints one more play and Lewis Galbraith took full advantage sneaking in at the corner.
Needing a much better performance everything seemed to go from bad to worse in the visitors first set as what looked for all the tea in China to be a knock on, even the touch judges agreed, was ruled to have come off the boot by the referee and the Wolves winger went under the sticks.
Drastic measures were called for and as soon as Coach Derek Traynor moved Lewis Foster to stand off they started to pay off.
The Saints pack, led by Brad Ashurst, started to get on a roll and the Wolves pack visibly wilted.
It was Ashurst’s drive that set the comeback in motion. Lewis Sheridan’s grubber was grabbed out of the air by Thompson and the big second row went in for the try.
From the kick off Ashurst again made yards down the middle. Alex Clare put Foster through and good support from Corey Lee allowed the now full back to outpace the cover to score.
Galbraith showed his worth in defence holder his opposite number up over the line and from the restart possession the Saints hit the front. Lee and Clare were stopped short but Matty Fozard’s show and go fooled the Wolves defenders allowing him the easiest of tries.
The Wolves had no answer to the speed of the Saints play the ball and the Saints turned the screw with three further tries.
Sheridan intercepted on his own 10 and beat off one pursuer before finally being dragged down 5 metres short. But quick hands to the right saw Ben Parry in for his first.
A great 40/20 from Foster then set up position for Parry to score his second straight from the scrum and the final word was left to the man who started it all as Greg Wilde finished another quick shift to the right.
There was much that was wrong in the first half but much that was right in the second.
Captain James Tilley led from the front with an 80 minutes stint, Brad Ashurst and Matt Cook made telling contributions off the bench as did Luke Thompson but the spark was Lewis Foster.
Match Summary:
Saints:
Tries: Ben Parry 2, Greg Wilde 2, Lewis Galbraith, Corey Lee, Luke Thompson, Matty Fozzard.
Goals: Matty Fozzard 3.
Warrington:
Tries: Nathan Hill, Jimmy Rowland 2, Declan Patton.
Goals: Jimmy Rowland 3.
Half Time: Saints 8 Warrington 16
Full Time: Saints 38 Warrington 22
Teams:
Saints:
1. Lewis Charnock; 6. Ben Parry, 3. Greg Wilde, 4. Lewis Galbraith, 2. Corey Lee, 5. Jack Jones; 7. Lewis Sheridan, 8. Adam Hesketh; 9. Lewis Foster, 15. James Tilley, 11 Luke Thompson, 12. Andre Savelio, 13. Alex Clare.
Subs: 14. Matty Fozzard, 10. Matt Cook, 16. Jamie Tracey 17. Brad Ashurst.
Warrington:
1. Scott Turner; 2. Nathan Hill, 3. Will Fairhurst, 4. Jake Eccleston, 5. Luke Warburton; 6. Will Milner, 7. Declan Patton; 8. Tom Walker, 9. Ryan Maneely, 10. Mick Learmouth, 11. Gavin Bennion, 12. Joe Philbin, 13. Jimmy Rowland.
Subs: 14. Brad Smith, 15. Ashley Platt-Hughes, 16. Joe Collins, 17. Jack Peet.
